Devil's Spawn
"Devil's Spawn" is the 32nd episode of Once Upon a Virus. Summary DeviousPeep reveals her ultimate plan for the people of Earth and journeys into another realm in order to collect something that will aid in her goal, all the while keeping her "very special guest" locked up in the dungeons where Joe, being a threat to her, is taken also. Meanwhile, Lady searches for a way to bring back the dead, but ends up discovering more than she bargained for amidst Joanna's things. And in the Wikia world that was, Peep finds herself immaculately in the family way, and must go to horrifying lengths because of it. Plot Joe, Rena and Liz continue to kneel before Joanna whilst their hands are tied by ropes that are held by Mantizoids. "Mistress," David is then heard calling as she enters the room and approaches the throne from behind, "The spell is ready. The sky palace is set to make an emergency landing." "What are you casting?" Joe asks boldly, and DeviousPeep takes it upon herself to point out that boldness. "Oh, come on…" Joe continues cockily, "We both know you can't kill me. Or rather, try to kill me… you know what happens then." "Jdg98…" Joanna utters. "Indeed," says Joe, "And he'd dethrone you in an instant. So I ask again… what are you casting?" "Joe…" Liz utters in a way that tells him to be careful, but her Mantizoid yanks on her ropes, silencing her. "I care not for your threats, little boy," Joanna says, "I may not be able to kill you, but I can still hurt you." She then swipes her finger through the air and a bloody scratch mark appears across Joe's cheek, making both Liz and Rena look worried for him. "Nevertheless," the President of Earth continues, "I also care not what information you, and it's always enjoyable to watch someone fear the inevitable, especially if you're the one inflicting their fate." "English, please?" Joe suggests, but the Mantizoid yanks on his ropes as well. "There's a quaint little hell dimension, or, website, known as Tumblr," DeviousPeep explains, ignoring him, "I plan to merge it with Earth, so that each and every mortal will literally be living in hell, and I shall continue to preside over them…" "So… you'd be Satan in this scenario?" Rena asks; his ropes are yanked. "Not a terrible comparison, Rena Charming," Joanna commends, "But in order to succeed in such a task I must first travel to this dimension and retrieve a very special object…" "I thought travel between words was, like… really hard…" Joe recalls. "For other people, yes. Make no mistake, getting from the lands beyond the internet to this realm is phenomenally difficult, but to get from this realm to the lands beyond the internet? For someone at my levels of power, it is mere child's play." "Mistress, the spell needs to be activated soon," David points out. "Alright, pet," Joanna tells her. "I knew I saw my old teacher…" Liz whispers to herself. "Mantizoids," Peep orders, "Do with the girl and the darker man what you will, but this one…" she points at Joe, "He's to be kept alive. Throw him into the dungeons. See if he can keep our special guest company." The Mantizoid begins pulling Joe out of the room and he struggles, all the while Liz and Rena scream for him to stay, but the Mantizoids pull on their ropes and they trip on the floor. There's lots of struggling and yelling and tears, and Joanna sits there stoically as Joe is finally pulled from the room. She proceeds to stand up and exit through another doorway along with her pet. In flashback, DeviousPeep is seen throwing up in her ensuite when BelleLover knocks on the door, wanting to awake her daughter for a new day of spell-casting. "Peep?" she wonders, walking into her room and seeing the ensuite door open… and then she hears her daughter puking. "Honey, what's wrong…?" she wonders, "Are you ill?" "I don't know…" Peep utters between vomiting, "I was perfectly fine, but… for the last few days I've been feeling super nauseous in the mornings… my eating's been off lately too… it's like I'm only craving certain foods at certain times… and my mood swings are like, awful…" "Well you have been kind of a grumpy bitch lately…" Belle thinks back, "I think I know what's wrong…" she tears up, "You're pregnant, aren't you?" "What?!" Peep exclaims, getting to her feet, "How could I be pregnant, I haven't… yunno…" "Haven't you?!" Belle screeches. "No! Mom, I swear… no man has entered my room or my… yeah. No one. I promise…" "Well…" Belle concludes, "There's only one way to find out then, isn't there? We're going to have to summon the Oracle." "Oracle of Fertility!" Belle is heard exclaiming as she stands beside her daughter, throwing some magical ingredients onto a fire, "I summon thee!" With that, a ghostly feminine figure forms from the flames, looking down at the two witches who have disturbed her. "What do you want?" she asks in a voice that echoes. "Oh, great Oracle… I believe my daughter to be pregnant… but she swears that no man has desecrated her… please, explain to us what has happened…" Belle requests. "Step forward, my child," the fiery Oracle beckons, and Peep does so. The Oracle performs a scan of sorts, and she deduces, "You are indeed pregnant, girl… but this fetus is the product of no man… no… it's the product of magic." "What do you mean?" Peep wonders. "When you stabbed your sister with an enchanted athame, the athame evaporated, and that magic leaked into you… it didn't add to your power… but that magic has been festering within you for months… it has formed a little life in your womb…" "You killed your sister…" Belle utters, shocked, "In a vain attempt to steal her magic?" Peep looks ashamed, but then Belle exclaims, "You really are my daughter!" "Indeed," the Oracle can tell. "Oracle," Belle asks it, "Will this child be born with magic?" "It is unlikely…" the Oracle foretells, "Most of the magic absorbed by your daughter has been transformed into life-force… I highly doubt that this child will be able to perform so much as a simple truth spell." "Thank you, Oracle," Belle nods, and the Oracle nods in turn before disappearing, and the fire it formed from dampens down. "So… I'm gonna have a baby?" Peep asks, frightened. "No… you're not," Belle tells her. "What?" "This child is magic-less… it is useless to our cause and will only distract you from our ultimate goal," Belle points out. "Are you saying I should abort it?" Peep wonders. "No, my dear… whatever that child is, one cannot argue that it's been enhancing your powers of late… so you shall carry it to term, you shall give birth to it… and then we'll just have to kill it." Belle walks away and Peep looks intensely worried, stroking her still-flat belly. Selena has prepared candles and magical ingredients around a circular Wiccan rune drawn in chalk on the floor. "All ready for the portal, oh intimidating one," David tells her. "Thank you, pet," Joanna tells her, stepping forward, "I shall open it when the sky palace lands." And, from the outside, we watch it do just that. The sky palace comes down towards the ground and lands beside Fenway Park, crushing a number of buildings beneath it as it does so. Back inside, Joanna nods. Her black eyes blink, and fresh tears of blood pour down her pale cheeks. She waves her hand over the symbol, and it melts away, as does the floor segment, forming a sort of hole in space. The portal to Tumblr is open, and Selena wishes her mistress good luck. "You are to keep this open at all costs, pet," Joanna tells her, "So that I may return from the depths of this site." "Of course, oh reason-for-being, I shall guard this portal with my life." "I expected as much," Joanna nods, before leaping into the portal and ending up on the other side – the hell dimension of Tumblr. Its skies are red, filled with broken spires and buildings, some of which leak on upside-down from the blood-filled clouds. Fire burns at each corner – eternal hellfire. Screaming is heard at more than every corner, and the sound of it makes Peep's stoic face smile ever-so-slightly. Hell-beasts, known as fangirls, fly around everywhere. Dragons, giant bats, pterodactyls… all manner of horrible, fire-breathing beast that one could think of, many of which rampage through the ground with only the aim of destruction written into the limited minds. "Oh, but this is glorious," Peep says to herself, taking a few steps away from the portal, "Now… it's time to find the GIF." Joe, meanwhile, is thrown into one of the cells in Joanna's dungeon aboard her landed sky palace, and he falls unconscious with the speed and ferocity with which the Mantizoid chucks him inside. It laughs a manic scream before locking him inside, and the person in the cell next to him utters, "Hello?" It's Peep's "very special guest", not that we see who they are due to the shadows covering their face, "Are you okay?" Joe continues to lay there, motionless and sleeping. Justine continues to cry, her face covered in blood, as she crouches beside Rockaboss. "What do you mean… they all died?" Josh asks, approaching her. "Lady Junky?" Primadonna Girl utters as she approaches, "What occurred…?" "The zombies… they'd already killed the family… and then they killed Sannse… and Dr. Sonya too…" she bursts into uncontrollable tears, unable to get over what she's seen, and Josh puts his hand on her shoulder in an attempt at comforting her. However, she bats him away and yells in defiance, and both of her parents want to know how to make their child feel better. "Justine… I know it was horrible what happened…" Dlrgirl tries, but Lady shushes her, and she ends up taking smoke form and putting herself back into her golden lamp – which is still attached to Lady's belt. "How do I help…?" Josh begs. "Teleport me," Lady requests. "What?" wonders Prima. "To… to N-nurse Seer's apartment. Teleport me there…" "Honey…" Josh tries to reason, but she just screams, "DO IT!" And, with that, Josh waves his hand, causing his daughter to end up in Joanna's Storywik apartment in a flurry of black smoke. The wind sweeps her hair as it wisps through the massive James 1234-shaped hole in the wall, and Lady manages to wipe her tears and stop crying long enough to stand up. "Whoa," says Dlrgirl75, having exited her lamp, "That was one trippy teleportation, huh? So what're we doing here?" "Oh… I forgot your lamp was on my belt," Lady says, detaching it and handing it back to the genie. "Thanks," Dlr says, "So what did you want from this place?" "Spell books," Justine reveals, approaching the wall safe and opening it, "I need to find out a way to bring back the dead." One of the fangirls – a sort of pterodactyl-iguana cross that breathes green fire – flies towards Joanna, sensing fresh meat. However, she uses her magic to manipulate some chains that are lying on the ground nearby, and she incapacitates the creature with ease. "Now," she says, approaching it with red lightning flared up in her palm, "You're going to take me to the GIF." Peep is next seen on the fangirl's back, flying over the horrible dimension that is Tumblr. She looks out at all of the death and suffering and dilapidation, and she says to herself, "I shall enjoy ruling over this land." Back in time, DeviousPeep is heard screaming as she lies back on a bed, with BelleLover preparing to deliver the baby that her daughter is currently in labor with. Peep is in a lot of pain, and Belle assures her daughter that she's going great, proceeding to comment that she sees a head, and advising her daughter to give one, big, final push. Peep does this, her audible pain almost unbearable to witness at this point, but then her screams are replaced by the cries of a baby, which BelleLover holds in her arms. "It's a girl," she announces, "Now I'll go and take care of it…" "No!" Peep exclaims, "Please… just… just let me hold her. Please." She is very weak and sweating from the birth, breathing heavily, and her mother reluctantly lets her hold her baby in her arms. As soon as Peep stares into her daughter's big, blue eyes she is in love. Utterly and completely. "Alright," Belle says sternly, "You've held it… now let me take it away." "No!" Peep exclaims yet again, shielding her baby from her mother. "DeviousPeep!" BelleLover exclaims, "The last time I suffered a useless child to live it ended horribly… please… let me do this girl a favor…" "I'm her mother," Peep says through her tears, "I should do it." BelleLover nods. The fangirl drops Peep off outside a gazebo, and the powerful Blood Wiccan dismounts. Inside is the GIF in all its glory… it's like a cross between a scythe and an axe with a shining silver blade. Its handle is lodged within a rock, ready for the plucking. "Please," the fangirl pleads, "Don't do this…" Peep turns to it, shocked that it can talk, and it tells her, "That GIF is the very heart of Tumblr, remove it and you upset the balance of hell… no wizard in history has ever been able to remove it from that stone…" "I'm no wizard," Joanna assures the thing, proceeding to gag it with her magic and keep it chained to the ground so that she may fly back to the portal with the GIF in tow once she's done. She steps into the gazebo, approaching the ancient and sacred weapon, and she moves her hand forward, about to remove it from the stone it's lodged in. However, just as she's about to grab its handle, she sees Silvia in the reflection of the shining blade, and Joanna's late girlfriend smiles at her. "Hey, Peep," says Missy, "Long time, no see, huh?" Joanna blinks her bleeding black eyes. Back in time, DeviousPeep is seen returning to the church, crying and miserable. "So…" BelleLover utters, "How did it…?" "It's gone, mother," Peep assures her, "I took it to the river and I drowned it. Are you happy?" "No, I'm not happy, Peep," Belle says, "I'm just relieved. You did what was necessary." "Whatever," says Peep, taking blood form and leaking down to her chemistry set in the basement. Belle does the same, and Peep begins fumbling with magical items. "Peep… are you okay?" "I just have to focus," Belle's daughter tells her, "This…" she gestures her magical equipment, "It's all I have." Belle nods and let's her daughter get back to work. "Queen Joanna," one of the Mantizoids is announcing in the present, "Was sneaked upon today… by these wretched humans!" We then pan out to see that he's speaking through a microphone in Fenway Park, beside the parked sky palace, and thousands of other Mantizoids are taking up seats all around the stadium. Two massive podiums have been set up; Rena is chained to one, and Liz is chained to the other. "Let the public execution… begin!" the Mantizoid announces, and all of its brethren begin to cheer, excited for the two mortals who dare attack their Queen to die a bloody and horrible death. "How do we get out of this?" Rena asks Liz. "Skilfully," she replies, sliding a hairpin up through her sleeve and beginning to pick the locks of her shackles, which are bound to her wrists and keeping her arms raised above her head, all the while attached to the top of the podium. The Mantizoids cheering drowns out most other noise, and then two particular Mantizoids step forward. Two of the biggest and toughest, there to slaughter the treacherous humans. However, Liz has managed to unlock one of her shackles, and she turns around and uses the chains to reverse abseil up her podium. "Well at least one of us is on top of things," Rena says to himself as Liz climbs literally atop her podium, and all the Mantizoids boo her. The Mantizoid that's meant to be killing Rena, meanwhile, charges for him, and he lets it. It comes at him with one if its sharper built-in utensils… and he moves so that it strikes his chains and detaches them from the podium. He's still shackled, but he's free to move now, running around the beast and jumping on its back, contorting the chains like reigns and riding it around the stadium as it attempts to shake him off. Liz, meanwhile, continues to stand atop her podium and uses her chains to whip that Mantizoid that's supposed to be killing her. It screams in pain as she gets its eye, making it explode into green goo, and then it starts to use its wings. Because of its large size, it struggles to fly, but still it's able to hover if it moves slowly enough, and Liz freezes with fear as it rises to her level. It scratches at her with its utensils, leaving a bloody scar across her back and tearing away some of her shirt; she screams loudly, and falls from the podium, landing on her front in the sand beneath. "I miss my sword…" she utters. And then Rena's Mantizoid rides past her as he continues to try and tame it, but then it bucks him off and he lands on the floor in front of it. It approaches him, ready to kill him before he can move… but then Liz comes in from behind, managing to throw her chains like a lasso and wrap them around Rena's Mantizoid's neck. She pulls, hard, and eventually its head comes flying off, causing another green goo explosion which splats over Rena. "Sorry," she tells him, but he's too busy trying to focus his magic while his Mantizoid's headless body runs away like a cockroach. "Come on, come on, come on…" he utters over and over again… and then his chains and shackles disappear into nothingness, and he cheers happily. The Mantizoids boo for him, and then the one that was supposed to be killing Liz lands between them. Rena manages to flare up a weak fireball in its face, distracting it long enough for him and Liz to regroup and be side by side. "Can you work your mojo on my shackles?" she wonders. "Let's see…" Rena utters. The two of them keep stepping back as the giant Mantizoid approaches angrily, snaring its claw-things and sharp-things and muscular six legs, and snarling with its razor-like teeth. Its clacking is immense, and disgusting. It secretes a kind of saliva from its mouth, leaking onto the floor. Its missing eye leaks too. The smell is pretty repugnant as well. "Wait…" Rena suggest, "What if…" "What if what?!" Liz roars as the Mantizoid whinnies in preparation to strike, and then her chains suddenly transform into a metal javelin, and she spears it up the massive Mantizoid's underbelly, killing it quite quickly. She then withdraws it and asks Rena what he did, allowing him to explain that transfiguration spells are easier than making an object eradicate from existence altogether. "Great," says Liz, "And now we run." They begin running from Fenway Park, to the sky palace in order to free Joe, as Mantizoids begin hovering out of their seats, wanting to recapture the escaped prisoners. Meanwhile, in Storywik, Justine and Dlrgirl are seen going through spell books in Joanna's apartment, but the genie finishes the one she's reading, and so she puts it down in order to go fetch another from the wall-safe. "It's pretty dusty at the back of this thing," she comments as Lady reads intently, "Ooh, look! A cool wand," she notices, taking out the Wand of Antiquity and blowing all of the dust off of it, revealing the golden finish beneath. "I wonder if this would be useful against zombies," she says, sliding it into her belt, "If I can figure out how it even works." She then grabs another book and begins to read just as Justine finishes the book she's on, throwing it out of the hole in the wall. "This is all useless crap!" she declares, still riddled with tears, and Dlr puts her book down in order to approach her master, whose crying starts anew. "Justine…" she tries, "There may not be any magic powerful enough to bring back the dead… but that's okay, because, well… you're not obligated to fix what happened back there…" "What do you mean?" Justine asks, turning to her. "It wasn't your fault," Dlr declares. "Wasn't it?!" Lady Junky yells, "I led them out there, I froze up, they landed to help me and they go torn apart!" "They wanted to come, right?" "It was stupid of me to even go out there. Of course that family was dead. Everyone in this town is dead. Everything's just collapsed… my whole life… just… poof, gone. And now we have this. This hellhole, and… and…" she struggles to even talk past her tears, "I just wish I had a way to put a stop to all of it." "Oops," Dlr whispers. "What?" asks Lady, "What is it?" "I think I may have just granted your wish…" "What do you mean?" "That," Dlr says as a book comes flying out of Joanna's safe and lands on Justine's lap, opening itself to a specific page and highlighting a specific paragraph. Justine can't read in her state, her eyes all wet, and asks Rachel what it says. The genie picks it up and begins reading the paragraph. "Oh, my God…" she utters, "This tells you how to undo a genie's wish!" "You mean… we could undo what my mother did to this town? Get rid of the zombies?" "Seems like it," Dlr says, reading, "Oh," she then says, "It involves a bloodletting ceremony…" "What does that mean?" Justine wonders, to which Dlrgirl reveals, "We'd… have to kill your mother." Lady is stunned. Joanna continues to be faced with Silvia in her reflection in the blade of the GIF. "Well, well…" Silvia is saying, "The lengths you're going to achieve your goals are certainly commendable. Or are they my goals?" "Don't attempt to laud your mind games over me," Peep tells her, "I've moved past such weakness." "Aw, am I your weakness Jo-Jo-bean?" Silvia inquires, but Joanna remains stoic and silent. "Whatever," Silvia continues, "So, I'm curious, once you've done punishing the mortals for what they did to the ancestors – which includes me, remember – then what? What do you plan on doing while you're sitting on your throne all day, ruling over Tumblr on Earth?" Still, Joanna is silent. "Oh…" Silvia realizes, "Oh!" "What?" Peep wonders. "You think you're gonna be able to make your daughter love you… seriously? After what you did, honey…" "I thought I murdered my child. I was wrong. I drank a potion that made me think that I did… but as I entered this powerful state, the effect that the potion had on me decreased, and then it was nothing. I remembered, and I had the full awareness to realize what had happened to her. And so I collected her." "And threw her in a dungeon!" Silvia points out, "Mother of the year up in here, y'all!" "Silence," Joanna beckons, "You know not of my circumstances." We flash back to before Peep returned to the church, to when she's taking her newborn daughter down to the river. She's wrapped up in a blanket and has been placed in a wicker basket, and the Blood Wiccan prepares to send her baby floating down the river. "I pray the whatever Gods there may be that you end up okay…" Peep utters as she crouches over the basket, "I love you, and I will always love you… even if I don't remember it." She takes out a bottle containing a dark blue liquid, "In this vial is a potion that will make me think I drowned you. But it'll do more than that… it'll make me think that I wanted to drown you all along. I'm sorry that I can't raise you… but I have to do my ancestors proud… I've worked too long to give up now… I like to think that one day you'll be able to understand. Goodbye, my sweet, sweet daughter…" She kisses the child's forehead and it begins to cry loudly, and then she places the wicker basket into the water, and the baby goes rushing down the river, crying all the way. Peep then mumbles something that we can't hear, before turning around and drinking the potion she's prepared. However, this means that she doesn't see. As Peep's child sails down the river, its crying grows more and more intense, and it becomes evident that the Oracle was wrong: this child wasn't born without magic at all, but with an abundance of it. Its mother's hairs on its blanket allow it to perform a spell by accident, enhanced by the extreme trauma she's experiencing. And then the basket falls through a portal that the baby has inadvertently opened by herself, into Our World. "My daughter is powerful," Peep tells Silvia, "More powerful than me when she was born… of course, years without using any magic has dampened her powers severely… but I can build it back up. Teach her about her heritage. Allow her to be great." Silvia chuckles and goes to say something, but Peep tells her to shut up, proceeding to grab the GIF by the handle and pull it from the stone it's lodged in with ease. As soon as she does this, all of Tumblr shakes as its very core becomes fragile, and Joanna's pale and cracking lips for another tortured smile. She unchains the fangirl behind her and holds the mighty weapon high above her head as she flies on the creatures back, back to the portal that brought her into this realm. And then she steps through it, ending up back aboard her parked sky palace. "You've returned!" David exclaims happily, jumping up and down, and as Joanna closes the portal with her magic, she asks her pet if she ever doubted that she would. "Of course not, oh great and wise leader of mankind… I just worried. Can I… hug you?" "Absolutely not," Peep tells her, and David nods as she follows her mistress out a door and into one of the sky palace's hallways… which Rena and Liz are running through, hoping to free Joe. They pause as soon as they see Joanna, who clicks her fingers and causes two Mantizoids to appear. They seize Rena and Liz and follow DeviousPeep back into her throne room, where she takes a seat on the extravagant chair, all the while keeping a tight grasp on the GIF she's stolen. "I have succeeded in my task," she tells her two prisoners, "Whereas it appears you've failed in your endeavours. Your escape attempts are tedious. From now on, ImmaGleek, you shall be my maid. And you, Rena Charming, shall be my new pet. Current pet," she turns to Selena, "You've just been promoted… to executive servant." David looks overtly happy to hear this, immensely proud of herself. "I've so earned it," she says to herself as Rena struggles against the Mantizoid. "You won't succeed," he promises, "You will lose." "I've felt loss before," Joanna assures him, "And it doesn't feel like this." We're taken back to the moment she sends her baby down the river, and we hear what it is she muttered: "Goodbye, Emma Cassidy Lover." In the present, Joe finally wakes up in the dungeon, and the very special guest in the cell next to him takes a sigh of relief. "Thank God," she comments, "I thought you were dead." "That voice…" Joe recognizes, managing to sit up. "Joe?" the prisoner questions, still in the shadows, "Is that you?" And then she steps forward, and it becomes clear who she is, Joe's childhood girlfriend… "Emma?" he utters in shock. Joanna's daughter continues to stand there, the prisoner of her own mother. Category:Season 3 Category:Episodes Category:DeviousPeep-Centric